I generally enjoy videos from this series but this one contains one of life's minor annoyances. Apparently in the US (and some other places) when people say "Asian" they actually mean Chinese (and sometimes they include Japanese or Koreans). So when he says "Why do people in Asia use chopsticks?" he means "Why do people in China (and Korea and Japan) use chopsticks?". As a matter of fact, MOST Asian peoples do NOT use chopsticks (though there is a large Chinese diaspora all over Asia that does). The Thais most commonly use forks and spoons, and in countries from Indonesia to India to the Middle East people eat with their hands. And he's wrong when he says that in Asia rice is sticky (and is thus easy to pick up with chopsticks). In actual fact, it's only the Japanese who use rice which is moderately sticky. Most other rice (even in China) is the same sort of rice you find in American or European supermarkets (though not like Uncle Ben's, which is an abomination). Rather than pick up the rice, the Chinese "shovel" it from the bowl into the mouth. There IS glutinous rice, which is even stickier than Japanese rice but it's generally used in confections rather than eaten at meals every day. And the long-grained Basmati-type rice grown and used in India are definitely not sticky at all.

I suspect the original title of this video was "Why do Asians use Chopsticks", but some people pointed out the obvious.. Then there's that recent movie.. I haven't seen it yet, I suspect all the "Asians" in it are actually ethnic Chinese.

To be fair, he does mention specifically China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam as the countries where chopsticks are used.

On the other hand, I find some of the statements to be a little bald. I would need some fairly convincing evidence that population increase was the cause of chopsticks, and I failed to see the link with cutting food into smaller chunks. 5,000 years ago. Food is cut small so we use chopsticks, or we use chopsticks so we cut food small. Chicken/egg scenario for me.

Back in the early 80s when I was managing a high end hi fi shop in London, I used to eat in a local Thai restaurant, whose owner was a mad hi fi fan. In those days we barely had any Asian restaurants that weren't either "Indian" (mostly Bangladeshi) or "Chinese" (no regional differentiation). This restaurant was one of the first Thai eateries. Fabulous food, and no muzak, But some customers every day would ask for chopsticks, only to have it explained to them.

When I first went to Japan, I used to wonder how they ate soup with chopsticks, until I carefully observed and realised that they were drinking the liquid straight from the bowl, like a cup.

Yeah, he does, but the first thing he says in the video is "Today we're answering the question 'Why do people in Asia use chopsticks?'". And then later he says rice "in Asia" is sticky so it can be picked up using chopsticks. Just somewhat sloppy, I think. Check out the comments - pages and pages of them.. By the way.. that Japanese "religious ceremony" they show is actually a funeral. One of the taboos in Japan is passing food directly from chopsticks to chopsticks..

In the US, at least, when people say "Asian" they've got a certain idea of what an "Asian" looks like (see the video's title screen), and Indians and West Asians don't qualify. Southeast Asians sort of do, if they're fair-skinned.

Fields' persona was that of a near criminal character who took on airs for personal gain. So I think it's just a silly juxtaposition of the tri-state championships and an obscure name for a group of islands in the Caribbean. There was a trend back in the day for con-men to claim (false) prominence in far-off lands to enhance their status at home. Iirc, partly in homage to this old boasting, the Blues Brothers claimed to be returning from a triumphant tour of the "Sub-continent" when performing at their gig at a lakeside resort in Illinois. (They had actually been in jail). It was more common in the days when hardly anyone travelled abroad, so the truth of the claim was difficult to disprove. Also, cf "the King and the Duke" in Huckleberry Finn.

I really like this channel. He covers a lot of interesting topics. And this video is ROFL hilarious. I remember watching that movie some years ago.. I'll never watch it again without noticing the bad stuff. I can't believe the arrow props were that bad. "piece of paper stuck to the side.."

Astronomers are not the only ones concerned about increased light pollution.

I seem to remember Coca-Cola (or maybe Pepsi) wanted to laser an ad onto the Moon back in the day when the Moon was the news (late 60s). Maybe it's an urban myth?I recall that it only didn't go ahead because you would have needed a radio telescope to see it. Shame - think of all those aliens who might have made Coke even more rich!

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